David Little: Readers will pick best burrito

Forget March Madness. If you're like most people, your bracket was busted a long time ago.

It's time for Burrito Madness.

We're having a popularity contest to answer a difficult question: Who makes the best burrito in the Chico area?

OK, it's not the most important journalism we'll ever produce, but sometimes you just need to have fun.

If the burrito gods are willing, we'll launch our contest Tuesday with an onslaught of notices in print, on our website and mobile apps, and on social media like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Google+. We'll have more than 40 trucks, take-out stands and sit-down restaurants on the ballot. Readers will narrow the field through multiple rounds of voting, leading to one winner being named in May.

There's no shortage of opinions on the subject. When we asked on our Facebook fan page (www.facebook.com/ChicoER) which establishments should be on the ballot, we received more than 100 comments. Let the games begin.

But really, we could save everybody the trouble of having to vote and just let me decide. I've been doing the research for, oh, about 40 years.

I went to high school in Oceanside in San Diego County, home of the best Mexican food this side of Mexico. A weekend night of fun in high school wasn't complete until we made a midnight run to Roberto's, the best taco shack on earth. And it had a drive-through.

After college at Chico State University — when the city was lacking any good options for burritos, except for Hey Juan's downtown — I moved back down south and lived near the beach in Del Mar. There was a Roberto's exactly 200 feet away from my front door. My roommate and I had Roberto's on speed dial 1. Burritos were $2.60. I was young enough to eat two at a sitting. Life was good.

I'm not sure when Chico became taco truck heaven, but it was sometime while I was gone. I always liked the trucks or the stands more than the restaurants. They felt more like Mexico.

In Tijuana, Rosarito and San Felipe, my friends and I would always opt for the most authentic-looking places. We'd look for a hole-in-the-wall joint with no waitresses and no gringos inside. If the person who took our order spoke absolutely no English, that was a good sign.

One time my brother and I met a bunch of our north state relatives in Puerto Vallarta. While they stuck to the fine dining near the beach, my brother and I walked inland to get away from the tourists in search of an authentic burrito. When we described to our relatives the rustic shack, the hot salsa, the flies in the window and the burritos with indeterminate meat — we may have embellished a little — they all agreed we would be sick the rest of the trip. My brother and I were the only ones who didn't get sick.

I still look for places like that. A language barrier is usually a good sign. It's why I enjoy a taqueria like Orland's La Perla Tapatia, where with my broken Spanish it's always a struggle to order correctly.

When we needed photos of La Perla Tapatia in Orland and El Patio in Hamilton City for the contest page, I volunteered to travel west. Of course, while I was there, I had to order something — all in the name of research.

The things I do for this job ...

David Little is editor of the Enterprise-Record and Oroville Mercury-Register. He can be reached at dlittle@chicoer.com. Follow him on Twitter, @ER_DavidLittle.